Apparatus for drying metal strips



A. SUNDH.

APPARATUS FOR DRYING METAL STRIPS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN- 6, 1920.

Patented Apr. 12, 1921.

BY dad 1% A770 Nil 5- IN VEN TOR WM STATES AUGUST SUNDH, OF HASTINGS-UPON-HUDSON, NEW YORK, ASSIG-NOR T0 SUNDH ENGINEERING AND MACHINE COMPANY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA,

A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR DRYING METAL STRIPS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 12, 1921.

Application filed January 6, 1920. Serial No. 349,787.

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, AUoUs'r SUNDH, a citizen of, the United States, and a resident of Hastings upon Hudson, W'estchester county, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Drying Metal Strips, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an apparatus for drying metal strips and is adapted for use in connection with machines wherein a single strip, or a plurality of strips, as desired, are adapted to be taken from a source of supply, cleaned, dried and wound up in a continuous operation. I am aware that in the art of treating metal strips as just outlined the strips, after coming fromthe annealing oven, are passed through a cleaning and drying apparatus wherein a blast of compressed air is imposed upon the strip to dry the same. In the present application, however, a blast of steam or other heated fluid under pressure is imposed upon the strips at an angle to the transverse and vertical axes of the strip, utilized for the pur-' pose of drying the same so that the strip will be wound up in a thoroughly dried and slightly heated. condition.

One advantage of the present system is that the water and moisture upon the strip are blown bodily therefrom, the strip at the same time being slightly heated so that it will be wound up in a heated condition.

Another advantage of the present invention is that no rotary device is required to supply the drying medium as is the' case where air is used, in fact, in the present instance steam can be taken directly from a steam boiler.

In general, the present application relates to a method for drying and slightly heating metal strips, wherein the strips in passing from the cleaning unit are caused to pass between blasts of steam preferably under pressure, which are imposed upon both surfaces of the strip at an angle to' the transverse and vertical axes thereof. The steam is supplied from any suitable source such as from a steam boiler to a reservoir having a partition therein dividing the reservoir into upper and lower chambers which chambers are, however, in communication with each other. The reservoir as a whole is heat insulated so as to reduce the heat losses due to radiation as much as possible.

The upper compartment of the reservoir carrles connected to it in some suitable manner, a pair of pipes adapted to conduct steam therefrom which pipes are set at an angle to the transverse axis of a strip to be drled, and contain longitudinal slots which are set at an angle to the vertical axis of a strlp to be dried. The lower chamber of the reservoir is adapted to receive the waters of condensation from the upper chamher, this condensed .steam being automatically discharged from said chamber when the same has reached a predetermined level in the reservoir. The strip to be dried, be-

fore being subjected to the blast of steam,

passes through a compartment or tank in communication w th the lower chamber of the reservoir which compartment contains hot water, that is to say: the condensed of such a nature as to maintain the speed of the strip or strips practically constant at all times regardless of the gradually increasing virtual diameter of the strip upon the reel. This is of importance in that by such an arrangement I am able to adjust my improved apparatus so that each strip as it passes through the treating means will be subjected to uniform treatment. Such an arrangement possesses another advantage in that it becomes unnecessary to employ clutches and the like between the motors. and reels.

In the accompanying drawings wherein an embodiment of my invention has been illustrated,- V

Figure 1 is a lan view of my apparatus wherein a luralit of strips are treated simultaneous y; and

Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line A--A of Fig. 1.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, 1 designates a reservoir or a tank comprising upper and lower chambers 2 and 3, respectively, separated from each other by a per reel 26 is driven by a series-Wound electric nected by a pipe 5 to any suitable source of heated fluid under pressure, such as steam. The heated fluid under pressure is free to pass from the lower chamber 3 through the perforated partition 4 and to the upper chamber 2 from which it is free to flow to a pair of parallel pipes 6 and 7, each of which is disposed at an angle to the transverse axis of a strip or strips to be dried and each of which is also provided with longitudinal slots 8 and 9, respectively, which are formed .therein at an angle to the vertical axis of a strip to be dried. The top of the reservoir 1 is provided with a hood 10 in which the steam or other heated fluid used in drying the strip will gather after escaping from the pipes 6 and 7 and from which hood it will escape to the atmosphere. The reservoir is heat insulated by suitable insulation 11 to cut down radiation losses. 1

The lower chamber 3, already referred to, is provided with pipes 12 and 13 establislr ing communication between the lower chamher 3 and a chamber or tank 14 at one side of the reservoir 1. The pipes 12 and 13 are coupled to each other by a coupling 15 containing a valve 16 adapted to be controlled by actuation of a valve stem 17. Secured to the inner Wall of the chamber 3 of the reservoir is a float 18 which is operatively con .nected to the valve stem 17, this float being provided for the purpose of automatically controlling the discharge of the condensed steam or other heating medium from the lower chamber 3 of the reservoir when the same has reached a predetermined level in said chamber, and permitting the discharge of this condensed fluid to the chamber 14, already referred to, which chamber is provided with an overflow pipe 19.

' The strips to be dried and which I have designated 20 are drawn from any suitable source of supply here designated 21 over a roller or rollers, 22 downwardly through the top of the chamber 14 and beneath rollers 23, which when this apparatus is in operation, are submerged in the condensed fluid in the chamber 14, the strip or strips then 'treveling vertically from the rollers 23 over guide rollers 24 at the top of the reservoir 1, the strip or strips thereafter traveling horizontally between the pipes 6 and 7, over rollers 25 and from thence to reels or blockers 26, a reel being provided for each strip and each reel being adapted to be driven independently of the others, all the reels, however, -receiving their motive power from a common source. In order to insure that the strips in being treated will be drawn through the treating means at a uniform speed, each motor. As the load on each motor increases dueto the increase in diameter of the coil of strip upon the reel or blocker 26 the motor will automatically slow down, thereby in- As the strips pass through the condensed V fluid in the chamberriglgl they=will be slightly heated asz in the 'ea'se ojf steam, the fluid in thechamber 14 will be hot and in traveling from the rollers tothe rollers 24 the hot water upon the strips is free to flow by gravity from the strips back tothe chamber 14 again, and as the strips, or strip as the case may be, pass between the pipes 6 and 7, a blast of heated fluid under pressure is imposed upon both surfaces thereof, that is to say, tie upper and lower sin-faces, through the slots 8 and S) of said pipes, these blasts of heated fluid being imposed upon the surfaces of the strip at an angle to the transverse and vertical axes of the strips to cause the same to be thoroughly dried and slightly heated, so that when the same pass to the reels or blockers 26 they will be rolled up thereupon, thoroughly dried and slightly heated.

It is to be understood that in the practice of my invention I am not to be limited to the use of steam under pressure as other heating mediums may be used within the purview of this invention. It is to be understood furthermore I am not to be limited to the precise details of construction described and illustrated herein as changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, the present invention being primarily directed to an apparatus for drying a single strip or a plurality of strips simultaneously wherein and whereby the strip, or strips are dried by imposing upon the surface of the same a heated fluid and wherein no rotary devices are required to furnish the drying medium and apply the same to the strip or strips.

What is claimed as new is:

1. In a machine for drying metal strips, the combination of a tank, means for supplying steam under pressure to said tank, means for discharging a blast of steam from said tank to a strip tobe dried, a second tank communicating with the first-named tank, meansfor causing the strip to be dried to pass through the condensed steam in the second tank prior to reaching the blast of steam under pressure and means for automatically maintaining the condensed steain in the second tank at predetermined .eve

2. In a machine for drying metal strips,

the combination of a tank, means for supplying steam under pressure to said tank tank, a tank for receiving condensed steam from the first tank, and means for conveying a strip of metal through the condensed steam in the second-named tank and through a blast of steam from the firstnamed tank.

3. In'a machine for drying metal strips, the combination of a tank, means for supplying steam under pressure to said tank means for discharging the same from the tank at an angle to the transverse and longitudinal axes of a strip to be dried, a second tank communicating ,with the firstnamed tank, and means for guiding said strip whereby the same will be caused to pass through the condensed steam in said second tank prior to the imposition of the blast of steam upon the strip.

4. In a machine of the class described the combination of a winding reel, means for driving the same, means for imposing a blast of steam upon a strip, the strip being drawn through said steam imposing mechanism for the winding reel being adapted to automatically maintain the linear speed of the strip practically constant as the virtual diameter of the strip coil upon the Winding reel increases.

5. In a machine of the class described the combination of a winding reel, 9. serieswound electric motor for driving the same, means for imposing a blast of steam upon a strip to be treated, said strip being drawn through said imposing meansby the winding reel, the said motor for driving the winding reel automatically slowing down to thereby cause the winding reel to automatically slow down as the virtual diameter of the coil of strip upon the winding reel increases, whereby the speed of the strip through the steam imposing means will be maintained constant.

This specification signed this 3d day of January, 1920.

' I AUGUST SUNDH. 

